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WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) - President Bush said Sunday that Democrat John Kerry is using "upside-down" logic when he says terrorists' recruiting efforts are getting a boost from the war on terrorism. "During the '90s, the terrorists were recruiting and training and plotting for war with us long before we went to war with them," said Bush, campaigning for re-election in West Virginia. Sen. Kerry of Massachusetts, Bush's Democratic rival, has said administration policies create anti-American sentiment around the world and encourage rather than discourage people to join terrorist cells. "I think it's wrong to provide excuses for their (terrorists') hatred,"...

Al Qaeda’s candidate, Socialist Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero won in Spain after they murdered 200 Spaniards. Their US candidate, Democrat John Forbes Kerry, may win here if there is another terrorist attack in the United States. You don’t believe Kerry is al Qaeda’s choice? America certainly does. In a national survey, Americans were asked, “Who do you believe the terrorists want to win in November?” 65% answered “Kerry”. Only 17% thought Bush would be their choice. In a recent column, Ann Coulter said, “Don't think of the Spanish election as a setback for freedom - think of it as a...

A Prime Minister is waging war. The great majority of the people oppose the war. The majority vote for the Prime Minister. Absurd? Well, that was the situation in Spain. It also applies, more or less, in Israel. But here the similarity ends. The Spanish people have thrown their Prime Minister out. The Israeli people go on supporting their Prime Minister. The Spaniards, in their innocence, believe that if a Prime Minister does the opposite of what the great majority of the people want, he has to go. They think that this is what democracy is all about. In Israel,...

I am not a Spaniard. Somewhere, on March 12, I saw the headline, “We are All Spaniards Now.” It was an allusion to the Le Monde headline from 9/12, “We are All Americans Now.” As we now know, that initial French (and German) sympathy for America was short-lived. In no time flat, the Old Europe of France and Germany sought to appease Islamism, and while claiming to be our allies, to betray us at every step of the way. Not so, the Spaniards. The 1,300 troops they sent to Iraq were largely a symbolic matter, but the symbolism was powerful....

MINNEAPOLIS -- In psychology, there is a term known as reinforcement learning. This method of learning revolves around habitually responding to an action or behavior with a reward. Once the subject has learned that a particular action is always met with a reward, they expect that performing said action will result in another reward. I've seen the results of Spain's elections. I saw how the polls flip-flopped overnight. I know what caused this. Am I a rocket scientist? No. The result of the Spanish election is a reward. It's a reward to whomever committed this horrid atrocity on March 11....

Spain’s ‘Munich’ Remembered James Humes Tuesday, Mar. 23, 2004 Evil had flaunted its ugly face. Words of hate and threats of destruction had spewed from it. So people in fear of the monster sought to mollify it. Europe and England were afraid that if they met it head on, they would be the next targets of terror and victims of violence. The time was 1938, and the monster was Adolph Hitler, who was threatening war, unless he was given a piece of Czechoslovakia. The peoples of Europe and their leaders had already witnessed the Nazi wickedness: the marching of storm...

<p>Noisy leftist parties and factions in Europe hate the American Republican Party and its leader George W. Bush. When John Kerry's supporters say, "anybody but Bush" -- not exactly a compliment to their candidate, by the way -- they cheer up leftist Europeans still grousing over their diminished fortunes.</p>

<p>MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Defiant despite a crushing election defeat, outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said Monday he does not regret supporting the war in Iraq and criticized his successor's plan to withdraw Spanish troops.</p> <p>Aznar's remarks were his first in public since the March 14 general election in which his conservative Popular Party crashed to surprise defeat amid charges that he had provoked the Madrid rail bombings three days earlier by backing the war. The attack killed 202 people and wounded more than 1,800.</p>

The Spanish election results are reverberating around the world, and the realization is setting in that the implications are disastrous -- not only for Spain, but for all of Europe, for the war on terror, and perhaps for the very survival of western civilization. Mass murderers have won an easy victory of staggering proportions. And any hope of coping with its effects will first require a realistic assessment of the damage that has already been done and where it is likely to lead -- all weighed in the context of the sobering lessons of history. Although the recent events in...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Terrorists Topple Their First European State VIEW FROM THE RIGHT Adam Sparks, Special to SF Gate Monday, March 22, 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin Apparently, Spain has chosen appeasement. And, proving old Ben's wise dictum, Spaniards now deserve neither liberty or safety, and they'll most certainly get what they deserve. The upset election of the socialists in Spain speaks volumes about the Spanish people. They now gleefully join much of Old Europe, which had already capitulated to the Islamo-fascists who are...

Are the Spanish cowards? Or do they simply not grasp the nature of the war on terror? The answer to the first question is decidedly "No." Spain has endured 40 years of Basque terrorism, carried out by separatists who follow an ideology almost as weird as al Qaeda's — a mixture of radical leftism and nationalism — yet nobody has ever talked of capitulating to the terrorists and granting independence to that region. Meanwhile, the small and underfunded Spanish Army has been stretched to its limits by going to patrol Kabul. Last May, 62 soldiers were killed when the plane...

The Spanish electorate may have put my children's lives at risk — and I am furious about it. There are times when I am especially thankful that I'm an American — and, even more so, that my children are Americans. One of those times was in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001. The outpouring of national pride, an immediate willingness to take the fight to the terrorists. A wholesome desire to see our government avenge our dead. A resolve to destroy the very roots of terrorism, no matter how long it took. Another one of those times was in the...

Five days after a series of bombs exploded on Madrid’s commuter trains killing over 200 people Spanish investigators and Western intelligence agencies are said to be almost certain that Islamic terrorists were to blame for the attacks—and not the Basque separatist group ETA, as the Spanish premier and his interior minister had initially declared. If the attack was indeed the work of al-Qaida or one of its many affiliates, it was singularly successful in achieving its presumed political objectives. Until the morning of March 11 the Popular Party (PP) government of the outgoing prime minister José Maria Aznar looked poised...

Six days after the Madrid bombings left 202 dead and more than 1,400 wounded, a terrorist group linked to al-Qaida declared that Spain will temporarily not be attacked again due to the recent change of government and the declaration of the new Socialist president to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq. In other words, a pardon for good behavior. In the March 15 edition of a leading Spanish newspaper, El Mundo, columnist Gabriel Albiac wrote: "The elections were won by the undignified option of surrender. An enemy a thousand times more dangerous than the Nazis, because their leader is God and...

Among the big losers in Spain's election was Tony Blair, who lost his most important ally in Europe. With José María Aznar now headed to the world of think tanks and corporate boardrooms, Blair stands almost alone as a European leader willing to expend blood and treasure to establish Iraq as a democratic and peaceful model for a 21st-century Middle East. True, Italy's Silvio Berlusconi remains with Blair, but he lacks Aznar's gravitas and international standing. Blair also expects plucky little Poland — to borrow a title once conferred on Belgium — to stand firm (despite the recent wavering by...

AFTER A terrorist attack by al-Qaida that left hundreds of their fellow countrymen dead, Spanish voters immediately voted to give the terrorists what they want -- a Socialist government that opposes America's war on terrorism. Al-Qaida has changed a government. Until the bombings last week, the center-right Popular Party of outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar had been sailing to victory. But then the al-Qaida bombs went off and Spaniards turned out in droves to vote against the government that had been a staunch Bush ally in the war on terrorism. (I guess it's OK for a Spanish Socialist to...

Spain's change of government was reason for celebration in the madrassas of Pakistan and the shops of Gaza last Sunday. It was a brief respite in a series of setbacks the radical muslim movement has experienced over the last year. The first major western power appeared to have capitulated to the political pressure generated from a spectacular and deadly terrorist strike in Madrid. Spanish elections held on Sunday, less than a week after the bombings, had put the Socialist party in charge and significant policy changes were to follow. It was made clear before the election that a vote for...

<p>"Blow to Bush: Ally rejected/voters clearly reiterate opposition to Iraq  war."</p> <p>You could almost see terrorists around the world smiling.</p> <p>The story underneath concluded: "The Bush administration must now fight  the perception, accurate or not, that acts of terror against America 's  allies can sway nations into rethinking the wisdom of standing too  closely with Mr. Bush ." And too close to America .</p>

"I want a government that does not intervene in the economy." Don't we all? But these are not the words one expects to come out of the mouth of a self-proclaimed socialist – much less the standard-bearer of a socialist party who is about to take power at the head of a major West European nation. If socialism means anything at all, it is confidence in the government's ability to manage the economy. But with the communists in China clamoring to endorse private property to buck up their credibility with the capitalist class, and the socialists in Spain swearing to...

FANNING ISLAND, Republic of Kiribati -- Out here, in the Gilbert Island archipelago, nearly halfway ‘round the world from Spain, there is one topic that dominates nearly every conversation: the effect of the March 11 Madrid train bombings on the Spanish elections three days later. The rush-hour explosions that killed 201 and wounded more than 1,750 were not only a devastating tragedy for the people of Spain, but a profound example of what every terrorist organization seeks to achieve: political change through violence. For the people of the United States and the Bush administration, the Madrid attack -- and its...

This is a fateful moment for the world's democracies. The question before us could not be plainer. Do we stand together against the mortal threat posed by Islamic totalitarianism and terror? Or do we allow these murderers to divide and defeat us? For that is quite obviously their strategy: divide and conquer. If the events of the past week are anything to go by, it is working. The commuter-train attacks in Madrid have succeeded beyond the terrorists' fondest hopes. Not only did they cause shocking bloodshed -- 202 dead as of yesterday, tying the toll of the Bali bombings in...

Three days after the worst terror attack in continental Europe since World War II, Spain voted to capitulate. In compliance with the demands made in an Al Qaeda videotape, the Socialist prime minister elect, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, announced yesterday that Spain would withdraw its 1,300 troops from Iraq -- unless, of course, the U.S. turns over the whole operation to the incompetent United Nations. We have seen the spectacle of nine million Spaniards, demonstrating their grief in the streets, their hands raised and painted white in a poignant gesture of mass surrender. This quotation, to a New York Times...

Spain Will Legalise Gay 'Marriages' - Zapatero Thu Mar 18, 2004 04:04 PM ET MADRID (Reuters) - Spain will legalize gay unions, although it may not call them marriages, incoming prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said on Thursday, but he did not set a time-frame for the move. "We are going to present a bill to set gay unions on the same footing as marriage," he said in an interview on Spain's Telecinco television channel. "From a semantic point of view marriage may be a concept that does not cover this type of union, but it will have the...

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world. A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in...

Frontpage Interview has the pleasure to have Victor Hanson, author of the new book "Between War and Peace: Lessons from Afghanistan to Iraq", as its guest today. Frontpage Magazine: Mr. Hanson, it is a pleasure to have you join Frontpage Interview. Welcome. Hanson: Thank you for having me again. FP: This collection of your 35 previously published essays, most of them from NRO, is extremely impressive. Their themes apply exactly to our latest tragedy and crisis in Spain. One of your special expertises is on how leftists, and some of our European allies, have chosen to side with our enemy....

<p>The ghost of Neville Chamberlain is haunting Europe, preaching pacifism and appeasement and promising "peace in our time" in the war against terrorism.</p> <p>This is the frightening apparition that rose out of the wreckage, blood and body parts in the Madrid train station bombing on the eve of Spain's national elections — that had all the hallmarks of al Qaeda at work. When the smoke cleared and the votes were cast, the terrorists had won their first major political victory on the European Continent.</p>

Now that Spain has rejected its pro-American government in the wake of the Madrid bombings and Osama bin Laden has effectively become the Spanish Foreign Minister, the question is not so much “Why did this happen?” but “What took so long?” What is really surprising is not Spain’s spectacular act of appeasement but the fact that the anti-terror Aznar government bucked Europe’s prevailing winds in the first place. For over thirty years, Europe — including Spain — has been preparing for this moment: doing everything possible to transform itself into the newest homeland of a resurgent political Islam. The renowned...

The tactics of the pro-war crowd who’ve hung in there knowing we were lied to and watching a war about to enter its second year never change. The Spanish people are now appeasers, as is everyone else who opposed the war for what turned out to be bloody good reasons and now want the UN to take over as quickly as possible to end the US/British/Australian occupation.  Please have a read of New Spanish government a circuit breaker on Iraq by new Webdiarist Sam Guthrie. And please, Miranda Devine and co, accept that we all want to fight terrorism....

<p>MADRID -- Spain will have a new government now: it is Socialist, as we know, and vehemently opposed to the war in Iraq. The prime minister-elect, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, is an old-fashioned European man of the left: pacifist in his "distaste" for war, and deeply anti-American in his posturing and rhetoric, to say nothing of his innermost instincts. If one were, as a laboratory experiment, to manufacture precisely the sort of Spanish leader the U.S. would find most uncooperative at this juncture in history, he would resemble Mr. Zapatero almost exactly.</p>

After a terrorist attack by al-Qaida that left hundreds of their fellow countrymen dead, Spanish voters immediately voted to give the terrorists what they want – a socialist government that opposes America's war on terrorism. Al-Qaida has changed a government. Until the bombings last week, the center-right Popular Party of outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar had been sailing to victory. But then the al-Qaida bombs went off and Spaniards turned out in droves to vote against the government that had been a staunch Bush ally in the war on terrorism. (I guess it's OK for a Spanish socialist to...

AFTER A terrorist attack by al-Qaida that left hundreds of their fellow countrymen dead, Spanish voters immediately voted to give the terrorists what they want -- a Socialist government that opposes America's war on terrorism. Al-Qaida has changed a government. Until the bombings last week, the center-right Popular Party of outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar had been sailing to victory. But then the al-Qaida bombs went off and Spaniards turned out in droves to vote against the government that had been a staunch Bush ally in the war on terrorism. (I guess it's OK for a Spanish Socialist to...

Spain's vote Sunday was a cry of anguish. Almost eight of 10 voters turned out to deliver an upset victory to the opponents of the war in Iraq. Some Spanish voters were angry that Spanish soldiers had joined the American-led coalition. Many were furious that their government would blame Basque separatists for last week's train bombings when all signs really pointed to al-Qaida. And all of Spain was still in shock and mourning over those terrible attacks. But this should be understood, too, in Spain and across the rest of the free world: The Spanish people have sent a dangerously...

After a terrorist attack by al-Qaida that left hundreds of their fellow countrymen dead, Spanish voters immediately voted to give the terrorists what they want – a socialist government that opposes America's war on terrorism. Al-Qaida has changed a government. Until the bombings last week, the center-right Popular Party of outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar had been sailing to victory. But then the al-Qaida bombs went off and Spaniards turned out in droves to vote against the government that had been a staunch Bush ally in the war on terrorism. (I guess it's OK for a Spanish socialist to...

<p>Until Thursday's terrorist attacks on Madrid's rail system, there was every indication that Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's Popular Party would prevail in parliamentary elections Sunday. But a significant number of Spanish voters evidently concluded that, by forging a close alliance with the United States and supporting the war in Iraq, Mr. Aznar had invited retribution from terrorists.</p>

Spain has just had its own 9/11, literally. The population of the US is almost eight times as large as that of Spain. So a fair comparison is that on 3/11 Spain suffered the equivalent of 1,600 dead and 12,000 injured. And in response to that, Spain has retreated from the war against terror. Does the US face the possibility of a Madrid mistake, especially in the weeks leading up to the November presidential election? I had the extreme displeasure last week of hearing Professor Beau Grosscup of California State University at Chico, arguing on TV that we should “understand”...

The defeat in this past weekend's Spanish elections of a government that stalwartly backed the U.S. war on terror is a victory for militant Islam and the followers of Osama bin Laden - and we are all more vulnerable as a result. Even if it turns out Islamic terrorists didn't plant the bombs which took the lives of 200 commuters in Madrid, Spanish voters assumed they did and turned what was expected to be an electoral romp for the governing Popular Party into a stunning rejection, handing power to a left-wing coalition that believes you can negotiate with terrorists. The...

David Frum thinks that the terrorists have won a mighty victory in Spain. Victor Davis Hanson agrees and makes a couple of things very clear: "Let me get this straight. Two-and-a-half years after September 11, on a similar eleventh day of the month, 911 days following 9-11, and on the eve of Spanish elections, Al Qaeda or its epigones blows up 200 and wounds 1,400 Spaniards. This horrific attack follows chaotic months when Turks were similarly butchered (who opposed the Iraq War), Saudis were targeted (who opposed the Iraqi war), Moroccans were blown apart (who opposed the Iraqi war) and...

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, the famous Spanish author of the book 'Don Quijote' (short title) once wrote "He who loses wealth loses much; he who loses a friend loses more; but he that loses his courage loses all." How profound those words are, and certainly must be to many of the people who have lost the second of those first two things, in this war we now fight. How dispiriting it is as well that so many others, following the sickening terrorist attacks of March 11 in Madrid, now seem to have lost that precious third thing. The loss of...

The terrorist attack in Madrid and its seismic impact on the Spanish elections this past week have brought the United States and Europe to the edge of the abyss. There's no denying that al Qaeda has struck a strategic and not merely a tactical blow. To murder and terrorize people is one thing, but to unseat a pro-U.S. government in a nation that was a linchpin of America's alliance with the so-called New Europe -- that is al Qaeda's most significant geopolitical success since Sept. 11, 2001. The unhappy reality is that a significant number of Spanish voters seem to...

Spain would be sending out a "terrible message" if it let terrorists influence its policies, the White House said yesterday as President George W Bush urged his European allies not to abandon the Iraqi people. The blunt comments were softened by hints that Washington might propose a fresh United Nations mandate on Iraq, answering a major demand of the new Spanish leader, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. "It is essential that we remain side by side with the Iraqi people," Mr Bush said. Mr Zapatero, the new Spanish leader The White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, said: "Terrorists must not be allowed...

Spaniards are rightly admired for their courtesy, dignity and tact. Since his unexpected triumph in the wake of the Madrid bombing, however, Spain's new Socialist prime minister-elect, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has displayed a notable absence, not only of magnanimity, but also of common sense. His first act, before even assuming office, was to demand that the American President and the British Prime Minister should engage in "self-criticism" for their decision to overthrow Saddam Hussein, accusing them of going to war "on the basis of lies". One of Mr Zapatero's colleagues, Jose Bono, recently described Tony Blair as "un gilipollas...

Annan: Spain Blaming ETA Affected Election Tuesday March 16, 2004 11:46 PM By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press Writer UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Tuesday that Spain's initial insistence that Basque terrorists were behind last week's Madrid train bombings was a factor in Sunday's upset election victory by the Socialists. But he said there were other factors including strong public opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq and an al-Qaida claim the bombings were punishment for Spain's support for the United States. Annan was asked if terrorism affected the election which saw Socialist leader Jose Luis Rodriguez...

Print Article         Close Window     Spanish Flee By Reid Collins Published 3/16/2004 12:04:48 AM It works! Terrorism, that is. When applied in the right place. And the implications of the Madrid train bombing are enormous. Rather than vent their anger in the direction of terror, the Spanish electorate ousted their own conservative government in favor of socialists who promise a more benign attitude toward terror! For starters, the removal of the token force of 1,300 Spanish forces sent in as an earnest of support for the Bush administration's preemption in Iraq. Before the bombings, opinion polls had indicated...

The Spanish election results force a new priority upon us. On Spain's National Day last October there was a military parade through Madrid in which all the flags of that country's allies in Iraq were carried past an official reviewing stand. As each national flag went past, King Juan Carlos, Jose Maria Aznar, the conservative pro-American prime minister, government ministers, opposition leaders, and the assembled guests rose and stood to attention. When the Stars and Stripes were carried past, however, one guest remained firmly in his seat. He described the event as an "homage to occupying forces." And last weekend...

Spain's prime minister-elect, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, vowed to withdraw troops from Iraq and criticised US President George W. Bush after Spanish voters ousted the government that dragged their country into the controversial war. "The war in Iraq was a disaster, the occupation of Iraq is a disaster," Zapatero, 43, told Cadena Ser radio Monday. His Socialist Party on Sunday dealt the conservative Popular Party (PP) of outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar a surprise defeat in general elections coloured by last Thursday's bombings of crowded Madrid commuter trains that killed 200 people and wounded 1,500. An ongoing investigation into...

From the standpoint of a political campaign, the Popular Party of Spain made one of the gravest screwups in history, one that spells nothing but trouble for Spain, the United States and the security of the world. They let al-Qaeda decide who will lead their nation. When the news broke on March 11 of the terrorist bombing in Madrid, which killed two hundred people, al-Qaeda immediately claimed responsibility. But throughout the news coverage, doubt surfaced as to whether the Islamic terrorist organization was really behind the attack. "Why don't they think it was al-Qaeda?" my wife asked. "Of course it...

Madrid, March 15, 2004. In a move that pleased terrorists worldwide, today Spain surrendered without firing a shot. Even the French are laughing at them.

"Britain and France had to choose between war and dishonor. They chose dishonor. They will have war." – Winston Churchill after the Munich conference, 1938. And so the Spanish have chosen; and so they will have. The lessons of history are too old, covered with cobwebs, stored somewhere in the attic of memory, belonging to generations whose time has passed. Now, again, it seems that all one has to do to ensure a bright, safe future is to hold up a sign saying "Paz", and peace it will be. Peace in our time. The dead of March 11 not yet...

A woman hold a banner reading 'Could this picture have cost 200 deaths?' during a silent march through central Barcelona March 12, 2004. Traumatized Spaniards voted in droves in a general election thrown wide open by a new claim that al Qaeda rather than Basque separatists was behind the Madrid train bombs that killed 200 people last week. (Albert Gea/Reuters)

The outcome of Spain’s March 14th elections is the worst news ever since the jihad against civilization began more than a decade ago. More than a tenth of the electorate in a major Western democracy has demonstrated that mass murder pays, and thus invited more of it. America is losing a major ally, and the struggle against Islamist terrorism has suffered a major setback. If Spain is a model, the Europeans are clearly not mature enough to understand, let alone deal with, the global threat posed by the Islamist barbarians, and the gulf in the Atlantic is wider than ever....